Warner, who is an artistic associate of the Barbican, last directed an all-star production of Julius Caesar there in 2005. Recent London credits include Mother Courage and Her Children for the National Theatre, starring regular collaborator Fiona Shaw in the title role, and Messiah for English National Opera. Her National Theatre production of Beckett's Happy Days and her Wilton's Music Hall production of The Waste Land, both featuring Shaw, both toured internationally; and her production of Hedda Gabler, featuring Shaw in the title role which originated at Dublin's Abbey Theatre and was subsequently seen at the West End's Playhouse, also traveled to Broadway. In press materials, The School for Scandal is called one of the most frequently performed plays of its period, but it has not received a major revival since the RSC's 1998 production. In a world where appearance is everything, fraudsters are conspiring to guarantee success and trickery is in vogue. Heaving with wicked whispers and ruthless backstabbing, The School for Scandal follows the plotting of devious scandalmongers in a play punctuated with putdowns and deceptions.

To book tickets, contact the box office on 020 7638 8891, or visit www.barbican.org.uk.